history

Second Temporary Art Strike Action Committee – Alytus Chapter (STASAC-Alytus) calls for the Art strike action to paralyze one of the most primitive and sophisticated snoots of contemporary neo-liberal EU policies – endless sequences of European Cultural Capitals. The art strike calls for striking particular case of Vilnius becoming European Cultural Capital for 2009 and instead to arrange the Art Strike Biennial in Alytus on August 18-24th, 2009. We are also calling for international support to assault the cultural capitals in whatever country it will appear in the future and later to continue the actions in the same place every second year – so to arrange an international network for debiennialization.

Why?

The particular case is one of the weakest – so effect of the breaking down would be the mostly painful for the system and the effect could challenge the chain events afterwards.

The case does not withdraw the creation of the spectatorship as others adequate events ever did.

The political forces are not planning any cultural infrastructure, but rather a singular effect which in some cases resembles business plan rather then any cultural social activities (the plans to erect Guggenheim-Hermitage museum branch as a top stuff…)…

The general tendencies of new-appeared capitalist post-communist countries are based on the centralization which already stepped beyond limits of homogeneous society – non capital cities inhabitants already turned into a lower (poorer) class.

How it could be arranged?

Worldwide spreading the message do not to partake the events arranged in Vilnius in 2009. Keeping in mind that artistic ego is difficult case to refuse from the proposals and even the fact that there always will be found somebody to fill the gaps – we are calling for possible Sit-Down or Work-To-Rule strike forms directly at place. That means to arrange minimum arrangement of the piece according to the contract or even doing nothing if it not contradicts your contract or the contract is absent.

We are calling for arrangement of the Sympathy Strikes in all over the world to support The Strike activities in Lithuania during the whole year 2009.

We are calling to attend the Alytus Art Strike Biennial 2009 and to make an assault on the worldwide biennialization of the contemporary visual art sphere. It will happen in August 18-24th, 2009.

What is going to be provided for the Art Strike Biennial in Alytus?

No schedules to be provided – artists appear and disappear in the social space without any wish to document or visualize the shock-result of his intervention.

Artist appears in society in obedient and benevolent way.

Absolute ignorance of professional art criticism.

The Press is to be used as some social duty and only.

No production, no copyrights, no art.

Following the manifesto of Gustav Metzger here will be arranged a ghetto for the artists who are not able to quite doing arts. All arts produced to be delivered during the regular periods to the European Culture Capital what Vilnius is intending for that time to be. We are going to use it as scrap-art-yard-capital.

There will be provided also opportunities for the artists, who are not able to withstand from direct irony and criticism. The target would be the strikebreaking artists, art critics, curators, dealers and bureaucrats. The assault actions are to be planned with each delivery of the art-scrap to the “European Cultural Capital”.

What definitely is to be provided to everybody attending art strike biennial in Alytus – that is the possibility together to construct a Capital of Culture Destruction Machine (based on both Willhelm Reich’s Orgone research and Nikola Tesla’s perpetual motion theories and so following the proposition by Stewart Home). The Orgone accumulator and other machines for distraction the cosmic sexual energy are already started to be constructed in Alytus by group of young artists led by Mantas Kazakevičius. Hopefully for the biennial time the water in the central fountain of Alytus park would be full charged with it. It would solve the problems of less potential and aged artists and will attract much more commons to enjoy absence of art.

STASAC-Alytus. 2008

Consider the whole of your life, what you already do, all your doings. Now please exclude everything which is naturally physiologically necessary (or harmful), such as breathing and sleeping (or breaking an arm). For what remains, exclude everything which is for the satisfaction of a social demand, a very large area which includes foremost your job, but also care of children, being polite, voting, your haircut, and much else. From what remains, exclude everything which is an agency, a "means" -- another very large area which overlaps with others to be excluded. From what remains, exclude everything which involves competition. In what remains, concentrate on everything done entirely because you just like it as you do it. (Henry Flynt „Against „Participation“: Total Critique of Culture“)